


Finding Home

by 100SleeplessNights



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Best Friends, Betrayal of Trust, Break Up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, M/M, Revenge, draco is a great friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 16:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17471249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100SleeplessNights/pseuds/100SleeplessNights
Summary: Harry finds out his boyfriend of three months told Skeeter about their relationship. Enter Draco, best friend extraordinaire.





	Finding Home

**Author's Note:**

> The plot for this has been running haywire in my brain for literal years and I'm so glad I finally wrote it.   
> I hope you enjoy it even though I have no idea what the hell Martin's character is.

It was his and Martin’s three months anniversary, so Harry had left work an hour early and bought flowers to surprise him. He regretted that only a few seconds after he entered his flat when he heard Martin’s voice from the living room.

“Thank you for writing the article. It was high time our relationship became public.”

Harry felt he could hear his heart break then. It seemed the information for the article about his relationship with Martin that had been in the Prophet the previous morning hadn’t come from an outside source after all. He couldn’t beli- no, he could believe it. He just hadn’t wanted it to be true until now. A small part of his brain had already suspected it the second he had seen the article about their relationship in the Prophet but as Draco often lamented, he tended to believe everyone was a decent person until he was proven wrong.

“I think you should leave,” Harry said as he stepped into the living room, all his anger and rage and… disappointment condensed into one sentence. The door fell shut behind him as though to underline his statement.

“Harry, I- I didn’t expect you so soon,” Martin said and tried to scramble to his feet while also trying to keep Harry from getting a look at the hearth.

Harry gave him a smile that couldn’t look anything but fake. “It’s our anniversary, I wanted to surprise you. But instead you surprise _me_ by showing your true colours.”

Martin gave up on trying to cover the hearth with his body then and instead assumed the stance of a deer caught in the headlights.

“You- you heard me?” Martin squeaked. It woke the strange urge in Harry to crush him under his boot like the rat he was, but like he had restrained Sirius from killing Wormtail during his third year at Hogwarts he now kept himself from ending this rat since he didn’t want to go to Azkaban for killing someone as insignificant as Martin.

“Yes,” he said. He didn’t feel any need to tell Martin how little he had heard since what he _had_ heard had been more than enough for him. “Next time you should really have your conspiratorial meetings in your own flat. And now you better leave. That way you’ll have some time to get ahead before I tell Draco about what you did, and he finally gets to go on his Best Friend’s Tour of Vengeance.”

Martin laughed at that which took Harry aback a little, but Draco’s Etiquette and Poker Face Training (Harry lovingly called it _The Malfoy Way of Life_ ) kicked in fast enough for it not to show on his face.

“Best friend? Really?” Martin scoffed. “My secret is out, so you don’t have to beat around the bush with yours either anymore. I know you two have been fucking behind my back for weeks.”

This time Harry couldn’t conceal his shock and confusion. “What?”

“Didn’t expect that, did you?” Martin crowed. He seemed very satisfied about surprising Harry with what he apparently thought was a very juicy well-kept secret when it was truly the opposite. Even if Draco _had_ confessed his undying love to him, Harry would have broken up with Martin long before pursuing anything romantic or sexual with Draco. In regard to loyalty he really was the Hufflepuff Draco often accused him of being. “I bet you thought you were very subtle, but the signs were almost too easy to see after I had spotted them once.”

It was the absolute certainty in Martin’s voice more than anything that made Harry laugh out loud.

Martin, of course, wasn’t amused. “What is there to laugh about? Do you think I haven’t yet told Skeeter about that juicy titbit, yet?”

That made Harry laugh even harder. It was… almost endearing how Martin tried to convince Harry to tell him about his non-existent wild escapades with Draco. Maybe, if Martin had really told Skeeter about their supposed _affair,_ he and Draco could fan the gossip flame by telling another reporter a few exclusive details about it. He’d have to talk to Draco about that later.

“You’re a real gem, Martin, you know that?” Harry said once his laughter had finally subsided. “Going public with our relationship even though I told you I wasn’t ready, spreading lies about me and my best friend, really, who wouldn’t want to date you?”

Martin looked offended by that but before he could say anything to defend himself Harry continued.

“Well, you’re decent in bed at least, I’m sure there are people out there who feel that’s more important than being loyal. Even though I wouldn’t wish you on any of them, I’m sure a lot of them are decent people, unlike you. And now do me one last favour and finally get your backstabbing ass out of here, if I see you again at my own funeral it would be too soon.”

To Harry’s relief Martin finally got the hint then and hurried out of the flat with his metaphorical tail tucked between his legs. He didn’t even shut the doors behind himself.

Before Harry closed both doors firmly, he shooed away Skeeter who had listened to their whole argument through the Floo and temporarily took the hearth off the network. Next, he put the flowers he had bought into a vase and set it on the dining table (there was no reason to throw perfectly fine flowers away after all) and then started scouring the flat for anything that belonged to Martin.

 

By the time Draco came home two hours later Harry had already purged most of the flat. He had even thrown quite a few things Martin had gifted him into the box that he would bring to the owl post office as soon as possible.

“Harry?” Draco asked from the living room, sounding more concerned than was usual for him.

“Yes?” Harry said and stuck his head out of his bedroom door where he was currently looking through his clothes to see if any of them were really Martin’s.

“Why does it look like a very small hurricane wreaked havoc in our flat?”

“Because it did?” Harry said with a teasing lilt to his voice. He’d had some time to work through his feelings by now and had decided humour would be the way to cope with it for the time being. “He’s called Harry and after breaking up with his boyfriend he decided he needs to get rid of all of said now-ex-boyfriend’s things.”

Draco showed the hint of a smile. “Aren’t hurricanes usually named after women, though?”

Harry shrugged. “Maybe there’s other rules for naming very localized indoors hurricanes. Or maybe the meteorologist naming this one wasn’t as sexist as the others.”

Draco snickered at that for a second but then he turned serious. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

“Later,” Harry said.

Draco accepted that with a nod. Harry was more than glad Draco knew by now when and when not to push him. “Should I start making dinner while you finish up with your hurricane duties?”

After a few seconds of thought Harry shook his head. “I want to make dinner with you. I can finish this afterwards.” He wanted to be close to Draco right now, more than he wanted Martin’s things out of his flat.

“Very well,” Draco said. “Just don’t rattle our china with your wild magic again.”

“Oh, fuck off!” Harry said and shoved Draco lightly when he passed him on his way into the kitchen.

 

Cooking with Draco always made Harry feel warm and happy but this time it was even more soothing than usual. Harry didn’t really know why that was, but he really appreciated it and by the time they were done eating dinner and had migrated to the living room he was calm enough to tell Draco about everything that had happened between him and Martin that day.

“Where does he live? I’ll apparate there right now and give that asshole a piece of my mind,” Draco said the second Harry was done talking, looking beyond mad.

Harry sighed but gave Draco the address. He had warned Martin after all.

“I’ll be back in half an hour,” Draco said and then got up to leave.

“Wait!” Harry said before he could. Draco stopped and turned towards him. “Don’t hurt him?” Harry said.

Draco sighed. “I will if he starts it.”

“Fair enough. In that case, don’t do anything that might land you in Azkaban.”

Draco gave an impressive eyeroll. “I’m very much attached to my life outside of jail, thank you very much.” With that he turned around again and left the room with his head held high.

Harry shook his head at Draco’s antics and decided to get back to purging the flat of Martin’s belongings.

 

As promised, Draco returned half an hour later, a satisfied smile on his face. “I love it when my reputation proceeds me,” he said and flopped down on the couch next to Harry. “I doubt he will bother you again any time soon.”

“What did you do?” Harry asked, careful to keep any accusation out of his voice. He didn’t think Draco had gone against his word, but part of his brain was convinced the smile on Draco’s face looked a touch cruel.

“Calm down, Lion, I didn’t touch him,” Draco said. He was just too good at hearing the tiniest nuances in Harry’s voice.

Harry shot him a dark look. They both knew there were infinite ways to hurt someone without even being in their proximity and Draco should know Harry wouldn’t be reassured by that statement.

Draco rolled his eyes. “After I listened to his baseless accusations for way too long, I cast a modified tongue-tying curse on him that the twins taught me and then had way too much fun making sure it’s working. See, no touching or harmful magic involved. He just won’t be able to talk about you or anything connected to you, like this flat or your workplace ever again.”

Draco,” Harry said his voice equal parts fond and exasperated.

“What?” Draco snapped. “You can’t deny he deserved it.”

“You’re right,” Harry said, his voice growing fonder. “And I wouldn’t want to deny it anyway. I wanted to thank you. So, thank you, Draco, for doing that for me.”

Draco smiled again without even a hint of cruelty remaining. “You’re welcome but there’s no need to thank me. Someone once told me that’s just what best friends do for each other.”

 

Harry and Martin’s messy break-up took up the front page of the Prophet the next day. The article heavily focused on how wrong Martin’s actions had been, never even hinting at an affair, which made Harry laugh out loud and kept a smile on his face the whole day. For the first time in his life he was glad Skeeter was as nosy as she was.

 

+++

 

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Draco said his gaze firmly fixed on the pasta on his plate. It had been two weeks since Harry’s break-up and after that first night Draco had acted stranger every day. He didn’t lean into Harry’s touches like he usually did, he ended discussions before they could even really begin, and he closed himself off in general. Harry hoped whatever Draco wanted to tell him would explain his behaviour, but he couldn’t help teasing Draco first.

“I bet the pasta is waiting with bated breath for your confession.”

Draco’s head snapped up and he looked at Harry with a frown that half-transformed into a wry smile after a second. “Fair enough.” He took a deep breath. “I have a confession to make. To you not to the pasta. I know I said Viagra Boy’s accusations were baseless because I know you’re way too loyal to cheat on anyone, even someone as insufferable as Mr Cumstain himself. But… he might have seen the looks I shot you every once in a while, looks I gave you because somewhere along the way, between getting over my schoolboy crush on the Boy Who Lived and becoming friends and moving in with you, I developed feelings for you that are in no way platonic. I meant to tell you right after the disaster with Douchebag, but I chickened out.”

Harry tried his best to contain the amused smile that threatened to spread on his face at the creative insults Draco used. Since the break-up Draco refused to say Martin’s name and instead used any insults he could think of to refer to him. Harry thought it was hilarious but right now he had to keep his amusement from showing so Draco wouldn’t think he was laughing about what he told him.

“Thank you for telling me,” Harry said when he trusted his face to only show a soft smile. “And I have to admit, ever since Martin put the image of me and you together in my head, I’ve been thinking about us and how I feel about you and it made me realize I have feelings for you as well. But I don’t think I’m ready to go into another relationship yet.”

Draco smiled brightly and nodded. “I understand and I wouldn’t expect you to be. But I’m glad it’s all out in the open now.”

Harry gave him a small smile. “I’m am, too. Will you stop pulling away from me now?”

Draco blushed and looked away from Harry again. “Yes,” he said quietly.

“Thank you.”

 

+++

 

To Harry’s relief things went pretty much back to normal between him and Draco after that. They once again had long discussions about anything that came to mind, sometimes fought like the old married couple their friends claimed they were and, most importantly, exchanged casual touches whenever they felt like it. As time went on their casual touches gradually lingered longer and slowly got more deliberate so it only felt natural to Harry when a few weeks later while they were sitting on the couch discussing the merits of Kneazles versus cats he asked, “Draco, can I kiss you?”

Draco was busy recounting the many upsides of adopting a cat, so he only noticed Harry had said something a few seconds later. Once what Harry had said had registered, a bright smile spread on his face. “Yes,” he said.

Harry smiled back at him and gently pulled him closer until their lips were close enough to touch.

Their kiss felt like coming home.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments keep me motivated.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: [@asexual-lovegood](http://asexual-lovegood.tumblr.com/)


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